Scarborough: Tea Party 'May Just Have Proved to be the Most Cunning an

July 26th, 2011 11:05 AM
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said Tuesday that as a result of how the debt ceiling negotiations are going, the Tea Party freshmen in Congress "may just have proved to be the most cunning and rational of all players in Washington, D.C." The host of "Morning Joe" told former Democrat Congressman Harold Ford this comes despite media depicting them as radical, reckless extremists (video follows with…

Open Thread: Can Any GOP Candidate Win the Youth Vote

July 26th, 2011 10:41 AM
Even if his campaign just brought in $86 million, President Obama has a big problem in 2012--he doesn't have the youth support he did in 2008. In the eyes of many young voters, he is no longer a trendy celebrity, but just another politician. The faltering of Obama's youth support might mean that a Republican candidate can pick it up in 2012, but with a GOP field so wide and diverse, the winner…

NYT's Brooks: Obama Behaved 'Like a Spurned Prom Date' Friday

July 26th, 2011 10:09 AM
Has Barack Obama lost New York Times columnist David Brooks? In his piece Tuesday, the so-called conservative said the President last Friday "lectured the leaders of the House and Senate in the sort of patronizing tone that a junior high principal might use with immature delinquents...personalizing the issue like a spurned prom date":

NYT: 'House Republicans Have Lost Sight of the Country's Welfare

July 26th, 2011 9:16 AM
The New York Times on Tuesday told its readers, "House Republicans have lost sight of the country's welfare." In an editorial entitled "The Republican Wreckage," the Gray Lady disgracefully claimed, "They have largely succeeded in their campaign to ransom America's economy for the biggest spending cuts in a generation" dimming "the futures of millions of jobless Americans":

Chris Matthews Nominates Bill Clinton as Treasury Secretary: 'It's a L

July 25th, 2011 7:17 PM
Barack Obama might give Chris Matthews a thrill up his leg, but the bromance MSNBC's "Hardball" host has with former President Bill Clinton knows no bounds. On Monday's program, Matthews finished by nominating Clinton as Secretary of the Treasury, "Because in many ways it’s a life saver" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

HuffPo's Frank Schaeffer Compares U.S. Evangelicals to Taliban, MSNBC

July 25th, 2011 5:02 PM
Frank Schaeffer -- the embittered liberal progeny of the late evangelical Christian scholar Francis Schaeffer -- appeared on MSNBC's "Martin Bashir" program this afternoon where he availed himself the opportunity to spew forth more venom against American evangelicals, who tend to vote for conservative Republicans. Schaeffer was ostensibly brought on to react to new polling data that show 56…

Obama Blames ‘Splintered’ News Media for Lack of Compromise in Was

July 25th, 2011 2:26 PM
In the midst of a showdown over how the government will increase the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, President Barack Obama blamed a splintered news media for lack of compromise between the parties and stressed that President Abraham Lincoln believed in compromise. Obama spoke to a packed Ritchie Coliseum at the University of Maryland Friday as part of a town hall meeting promoting what he called a “…

Mud-slinging a Real Headache

July 25th, 2011 12:15 PM
Michele Bachmann gives me a headache. But it's not the congresswoman herself who is to blame for the pain. It's so many of the stories about her. We're still months away from the first caucus or primary of the presidential nominating season, and already things have gotten way out of control. Accusations that Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann is heavily medicated on account of…

Mika Brzezinski: Why Can't Republicans 'Think Outside the Box for the

July 25th, 2011 11:14 AM
MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski asked the co-host of "Morning Joe" Monday if Republicans holding the line on the debt ceiling are "so stuck to their little contract and the Tea Party that they cannot even think outside the box for the good of the country." Somewhat less surprising, Joe Scarborough gave a pretty good answer (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Open Thread: What Should Be the Focus of GOP Campaigns

July 25th, 2011 11:07 AM
For a field of Republican presidential hopefuls spread so thin, it seems that the clearest strategy to gain support would be to orchestrate the best campaign against President Obama, especially against his failed economic policies. Instead of focusing all their attention on the president's failures, though, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Rep. Michele Bachmann, both of Minnesota, are also spending…

Uygur: Sharpton May Have Gotten MSNBC Show Because He Won't Criticize

July 24th, 2011 8:21 PM
When CBS's "60 Minutes" did a puff piece about Al Sharpton in May, Lesley Stahl revealed the Reverend refuses to say anything bad about President Obama. On Sunday's "Reliable Sources," former MSNBC contributor Cenk Uygur claimed he might have been replaced by Sharpton in the 6PM time slot because of the Reverend's undying devotion to the current White House resident (video follows with…

Fareed Zakaria Blames Tea Party for 'Extraordinary Polarization in Was

July 24th, 2011 4:23 PM
Fareed Zakaria on Sunday blamed the Tea Party for the "extraordinary polarization in Washington today." "It's ideologically extreme, refuses to compromise, and cares more about purity than problem solving," Zakaria told viewers of the CNN program bearing his name (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Heilemann: Obama's 'Hope' in 2008 to be Replaced by 'Fear' of Republic

July 24th, 2011 12:30 PM
Forget about 2008's "Hope and Change" mantra. New York magazine's John Heilemann said on this weekend's "Chris Matthews Show" Barack Obama's message in 2012 will all be about "fear" of the Republican candidate, and the President will spend $500 million on negative attack ads against his opponent to instill it (video follows with transcript and commentary):

In Just Four Days, Networks Devote 13 Minutes to 'Campaign Controversy

July 23rd, 2011 1:33 PM
Over a span of just four days, the three major networks devoted 12 minutes and 59 seconds to highlighting the "campaign controversy" of Michele Bachmann's migraines. The report first appeared online and then was quickly picked up on ABC, NBC and CBS. On Wednesday, Good Morning America's Robin Roberts warned, " But now a new story is raising questions about her health."  On NBC's Today, Kelly…